Fred Friendly, president of CBS News, left, and journalist Edward R. Murrow share the cover of a new book by journalism professor Matthew Ehrlich, “Radio Utopia: Postwar Audio Documentary in the Public Interest,” published this month by the University of Illinois Press.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. World War II had just ended. Radio still ruled the airwaves. And some of the medium's brightest talents, among them Norman Corwin and Edward R. Murrow, set out to use the power of radio for postwar idealistic ends. Their tool of choice was the radio documentary. Their innovative broadcasts would take listeners around the world, into "you are there" recreations of history, as well as into war zones and some uncomfortable topics. They would delve into juvenile delinquency, race relations, venereal disease, and the dangers of nuclear weapons.
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